I’m talking about STEAM BAKING, to be precise. Have you heard of it, or do you have an oven that does this? If so, lucky you!

So what is steam-baking? It’s simultaneously steaming AND baking, or just baking in a moist oven environment. This is one of the coolest cooking methods out there, and this particular combination benefits pretty much everything in your diet, even desserts.

But why is wet heat so cool and why are you lucky if you have this type of oven? There are several reasons. The humid environment that results from wet heat produces amazing results. For instance:

Food is cooked faster. The water molecules in steam conduct heat better than air, cooking your food more quickly. It’s why a humid 90-degree day feels hotter than a 90-degree day without humidity.

Proteins turn out juicier and more tender. This means better fish, better chicken, and even better tofu. Steam keeps the inside of proteins nice and juicy, giving you the opportunity to get a nice, crispy outside without drying out the whole thing.

Leftovers are not just re-heated, they’re rejuvenated! Reheating food by baking it tends to really dry it out, but when you reheat food by baking AND steaming it, you bring back some of its original moisture. It’s awesome to eat a reheated chicken breast that’s actually juicy! You’ll never go back to your microwave for reheating food ever again.

Even toast improves. Steam helps your toast retain a little inner softness. Instead of just sucking all the water out of the starch molecules that make up your bread, you’re actually adding water back into them—but not too much so you can still get that crisp exterior. Even stale bread turns into tasty and satisfying toast. Once you’ve used a steam oven, you’ll likely get rid of your toaster oven (meaning more counter space—yay!).

Baked goods turn out much better. Take bread for example: With bread, steam is the key to getting truly crisp crust and a lovely, light interior (or “crumb”). When you bake bread in a moist environment, water vapor will cling to its surface, slowing down the process of drying out the top of the dough and forming a crust. Your bread will then have a better dome because the dough was allowed to grow upwards for longer, and your crust will be crisp and NOT burnt.

It's true that cooking with steam is hardly a new technique. Steamers were being used as far back as 5000BC and their modern-day cousins have been used in commercial kitchens by high-profile chefs for decades.

But it’s only been recently that steam ovens have started catching the eye of home cooks, too. All of its benefits make it easy to understand why. Faster baking, healthier and tastier food—no wonder it’s one of the coolest baking methods out there!